Why Organizations Would Need One Million Data Scientists By 2018?

In a recent press release, John Lucker, principal of Deloitte Consulting LLP, said, ‘One thing is certain: effectively using analytics is essential in delivering insights that help achieve new levels of innovation and value.’ This statement comes in light of the fact that the industry is already facing a shortage in the number of data scientists and pressing cyber-security challenges.

A report by Deloitte suggests that there will be a requirement of a million data scientists by 2018. Let’s take a look at some major analytics trends that the report pointed out, which substantiate it:

Boost in analytics investments: Enterprise-level analytics investments are the in thing. Companies are moving to become insight-driven organizations. They want to analytics to connect the dispersed insights across their various verticals and help them take data-driven decisions to eliminate mistakes and boost possibility for profit.

The Internet of Things (IoT) catching up fast: An estimation by the International Data Corporation (IDC) says that the worldwide IoT market will grow to $1.7 trillion in 2020. This will include devices, IT services and connectivity: things that will be interlinked to transform the way people work and live.

Cyber security gaining priority: Cyber criminals have caused major setbacks to finances as well as reputations in the recent past. Organizations today are not only interested in stopping breach-ins but building predictive models that prevent any kind of mishap on the basis of ‘what could happen.’

Science and business coming together: Increased investments in technological and data capabilities are causing big advances, which has taken business analytics to a new level. The techniques borrowed from science and analytics are working well for businesses, making it a mutually profitable endeavor. There are plenty of evidences that suggest a growing relationship between the sciences and business.

A major fear; however, that lurks in the hearts of data scientists is that the chasm between humans and machines is closing gradually, and that smart machines are going to take over humans in the future. Well, though it is true that a few job losses might happen, companies that want to retain their talents will have to restructure their manpower in a way that machines and humans come together to complement each other and produce exceptional results.

Are you a data scientist, or aspire to be one? What do you think about the scope of data science in the near future? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.